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Tim Tebow evokes strong opinions on NFL potential

Critics doubt his QB potential, but Tony Dungy believes in his ability.

DAVE MARTIN/Associated PressSome draft analysts don’t think Tim Tebow can play quarterback in the NFL, including ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. But former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy said he thinks Tebow will be a quality quarterback.

The debate among NFL talent evaluators isn’t if Tim Tebow has a future in the NFL.

It’s whether he should be throwing passes or catching them.

When talking about Tebow, NFL personnel seem to have only two opinions: Tebow will be a good NFL quarterback, or he has to move to H-back. One extreme or the other. There is no middle-of-the-road opinion on the former Florida quarterback.

“He has to accept one of two things,” said Todd McShay, ESPN Scouts Inc.’s director of college football scouting. “He either needs to … completely start over as a quarterback and a passer and that’s going to take a lot of hard work or may not work, or he’s going to need to play another position in the NFL.”

There have been few, if any, players who have generated that kind of dichotomy among NFL talent evaluators. Former Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward and former Texas quarterback Vince Young faced the same kind of division, but not to the extreme that Tebow will in the months before the April 22-24 NFL Draft.

Each camp has its vocal members, too.

McShay and fellow ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. head the list of doubters, and there are plenty who believe that Tebow’s footwork, long delivery, accuracy and ability to read defenses are not good enough to allow him to make it as an NFL quarterback.

In an informal poll of 12 NFL scouts attending Senior Bowl week, nine said Tebow’s NFL future is at tight end or H-back.

“I think that’s what he’d be,” said an AFC scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Fixing the release, that’ll take time, but golly you don’t know when, how long that’s going to take, and how much fixing is it going to be. The release, the windup. I was a defensive back. I loved that long windup. That’d give me a chance to zero in and break on the ball.”

Other high-profile doubters have emerged. Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann told Jacksonville radio station WJXL during Super Bowl week that Tebow should have given up football after graduating from Florida instead of trying to play in the NFL.

The only concession some of the critics will make is that Tebow could find playing time as a wildcat quarterback, much like Michael Vick did in Philadelphia and Pat White — a former spread offense quarterback at West Virginia — did in Miami. At least one AFC scout at the Senior Bowl says he can see Tebow having a lot of success in the wildcat — but as a tight end, not a quarterback.

“Everybody’s got the wildcat now,” said the scout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The quarterback and the wide receiver, running back, whatever — now he’s going to add the tight end position to that. This is a guy who can come out and all of a sudden they go two tight ends and they’re in a short-yardage formation and they can kind of power guys. Defensively, you have to put other personnel in.”

There are others who believe as strongly that Tebow will be an NFL quarterback.

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy appeared on Dan Patrick’s radio show last fall and said that not only will Tebow be a quality NFL quarterback, he is a top 10 pick. He also said he’d take Tebow over any other quarterback in this year’s draft because of his intangibles — leadership, work ethic, competitiveness — outweigh any concerns about his ability.

“As a coach, I always like winners,” Dungy said on Patrick’s radio show. “Tim Tebow doesn’t have the classic throwing motion, he doesn’t have the accuracy, maybe, right now that some people are looking for, but I think when he gets into a pro system that really stresses throwing the ball accurately, the big thing is he makes the people around him better. And he’s won. … I think he’s going to be a great player in the NFL.”

NFL.com’s Gil Brandt, who spent 29 years as the Dallas Cowboys’ vice president of player personnel, listed Tebow as his No. 1 senior quarterback and said Tebow would be a top-five pick.

Brandt also said he’s not surprised there are such different opinions of Tebow’s potential.

“Twenty, 25 years ago, we didn’t have 84 draftniks, for a lack of a better term, that were evaluating players,” Brandt said. “We weren’t paying players $32 million signing bonuses. Right now there’s more written about the draft than any other thing in the NFL except for the Super Bowl. When you have that many people writing about drafts and possible drafts, there’s always going to be a lot of different opinions.”

Tebow is aware of the doubters, but he’s had them ever since he arrived at Florida. They didn’t bother him then, and they’re not bothering him now.

“I believe in myself and my ability and my ability to be coachable and my ability to work hard,” Tebow said. “I feel with those things, I can be an NFL quarterback.

“… I’m not going to listen to people and what they say because at the end of the day, you don’t have to impress 32 teams, you have to impress one. That’s my goal.”